In Ben’s initial post on the subject he argued Hilton HHonors points were really valuable because of the great hotels you can access at a strong cents per point ratio (compared to the cost of paying for that hotel room). His latest missive in the debate, though, is titled “Valuing miles and points is a futile effort.” Getting a precise value for a given currency is a futile effort, because the value is opaque. You can’t truly compare across currencies when each currency can be used for different things, rather than universally for the same things. And especially because there is also uncertainty. You don’t know which hotels will leave a brand’s portfolio. You don’t know when the points will be devalued, and by how much. When hotel programs adjust which properties are assigned to…
Federal Government Freezes Travel Per Diems for 2013 — Does Your Senator Think You’re Not Paying Enough?
The Office of Management and Budget has made a directive for federal travel budgets to be cut 30%. The General Services Administration was looking closely at federal government hotel rates and had been intending to cut payments for those. They use a formula that includes a mix of rates for different scales of lodging, and one possibility was cutting out the upper upscale segment. That would have lowered the rates they were willing to pay. There was fierce lobbying in opposition to this by the hotel industry. In the end no cuts are being made. Which the GSA declares is their making a difference in “controlling costs and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are used wisely.” And yet hotel industry supporters are still not thrilled. They want more spending. Prior to the release of the 2013…
National Car Rental Free Rental Day Every Two 2-Day Rentals
Via New Girl in the Air, National Car Rental has brought back a free rental day on every two paid midsize or larger rentals of 2 days or more between August 20 and January 31. The free rental days can be used between September 10 and June 16, 2013 on full size category or lower cars, with no more than 3 free rental certificates on a single rental. You can earn up to 10 free rental days under the promotion, and registration is required. Update: I misread the terms and conditions last evening, there is no limit to the number of free rental days you can earn. There’s an additional way to earn free rentals which is by referring people to the promotion, and they cap that offer at 10 free rental days. Note that…
Why You Want to Buy Icelandair Miles
Online Travel Review shared a great tip today, and one that most overlook. Icelandair has a 20% bonus on purchased miles running through September 28th. 30,000 miles (25,000 plus bonus) costs ~ $329 (charged in Krona) That’s the cost of an Alaska Airlines first class roundtrip ticket between Seattle and any non-stop destination they fly to — including Hawaii and Mexico. You can purchase 100,000 miles per account per year.
Using Debit Cards to Earn Lots of Miles Cheap
This morning Million Mile Secrets wrote about using a mileage-earning debit card with payment/transfer services Amazon Payments, Venmo, and American Express Serve to earn (a limited number of) miles for free. Last week he explained earning miles by buying Walmart money orders with a debit card which you then deposit back into your bank account. Last month he explained paying taxes with a debit card to earn miles — usually when you pay taxes with a credit card cost ‘convenience fee’ is to high to justify the technique for the miles earned. But you can pay taxes with a debit card for a fixed fee under $4. These techniques are made possible by the Delta Skymiles debit card from Suntrust. Mileage-earning debit cards, for the most part, went by the wayside with federal legislation capping…
How Much is a Hilton HHonors Point Worth? (“Lucky Isn’t As Rich As He Thinks He Is” Edition)
Yesterday One Mile at a Time decided to throw down with me over my comparison of the value of Starwood and Hilton HHonors points. Roughly speaking, as summarized by Ben, he thinks that a Starwood point is worth a little less than 3 Hilton points, I think a Starwood point is worth about four Hilton points. That doesn’t seem like a huge difference but it actually is. It’s the difference between the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express (which earns 1 Starpoint per dollar) being a better card for everyday, un-bonused spend than the Citi Hilton Reserve Visa (which earns 3 Hilton points per dollar), or vice versa. Plus, it’s a blogfight. So it really matters(tm). But let’s put it another way. I think a Hilton point is worth between 0.5 and 0.6 cents, he thinks…
1000 Free British Airways Avios Points
Via Head for Points, you can still sign up as a british midland Diamond Club member even though that program isn’t long for this world since the airline was acquired by British Airways. Use ‘voucher code’ 1JA1KD when joining and the new account will start off with 1000 points. Then you can log into a British Airwas Executive Club account and use the ‘Combine My Avios’ link to move the british midland points over to British Airways. That’s 1000 free BA points for anyone that doesn’t already have a british midland frequent flyer account. This scales up a bit, too. Get everyone in your family signed up for a British Airways and british midland account if they don’t already have one. You can move their 1000 bmi points to BA, and then link their BA…
Free Instant Accor Platinum Status is Back
It was around earlier this month, but that offer was pulled rather quickly. Now it’s back, just sign up for Le Club Accorhotels using this link and your account should start with Platinum (top tier) status. And while we’re at it, here’s another signup link as well (just use Google translate). Even if you don’t frequently stay at Sofitel, Novotel, Pullman, Mercure, and other related properties frequently, you never know when you might find yourself in one and having top tier status can’t hurt. Platinum status usually requires 60 nights or 25,000 points earned. It offers double points and at Sofitel, Pullman and MGallery hotels a complimentary drink and welcome gift, and subject to availability and on request 4pm late checkout and an upgrade. They’ll only let you sign up for one account per email…
W Hotels Bed and Bedding 35% Off is Back
The W Hotels Store is running a 35% off sale on beds and bedding through August 27 with coupon code JM35R. I bought my own bed with a 40% discount — something I haven’t seen since March of last year but that was much more common between 2006 and 2009. And I got in before the May 2010 price increase. I bought my Queen Plush Top bed and frame for $720 all-in, free shipping and no sales tax. The same purchase today, with this deal (so after price increase and a smaller discount) would be $978. Still, I’ve been happy with the purchase. It’s a good bed, I’ve had it for five years now, and 35% off seems a pretty good deal. I do recommend the plush top rather than the pillow top, augment it…
Even Though the Bankruptcy Court Refused to Alter American’s Pilot Contracts, the Airline Really Won
After close of business the judge in the American Airlines bankruptcy case denied the airline’s request to terminate their pilot contracts (in what’s known as a section 1113 ruling). Most of the headlines I’ve seen leave it at that, “American denied request to reject pilot contract” or the like. And while that’s technically true, their motion was denied, it was denied without prejudice — with the judge agreeing with the airline on almost everything — but felt the airline had gone too far in their requests in two areas. So he wouldn’t give them everything they were looking for. I’m not an attorney, let alone one versed in labor and bankruptcy law. But I read through the 111 page document (.pdf) this evening. And it was almost a universal, across-the-board win for American. It just…
